Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has directed the state’s DGP and the Principal Secretary of Home Department to personally ensure comprehensive training for police officers on the mandatory requirement to provide written grounds of arrest to the arrestees.
This directive came in a ruling by a single-judge bench of Justice Gourishankar Satapathy while hearing a bail application in the alleged robbery at the Mandhatapur branch of a nationalised bank in Nayagarh on July 2, 2025. The court directed for release of the three accused on bail bonds of Rs 25,000 each with one solvent surety but highlighted repeated non-compliance with constitutional and procedural safeguards.
The court noted non-compliance with Article 22(1) of the Constitution and Section 47 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) in the arrest records. “It is very high time to prevent such violation of mandatory provisions in as much as the offender may take the benefit of the non-compliance of the aforesaid mandatory statutory requirements which is very much evident in this case and this court has come across so many cases about violations/infractions of the aforesaid provisions under Article 22(1)/Sec 47 of the BNSS (Sec 50 of CrPC) only enduring to the benefit of the offender to get out of the custody mainly on technical grounds,” Justice Satapathy said.
The accused Pramod Nayak, Purna Chandra Prusty and Shiba Dakua were arrested the same day and booked under Sections 310(2), 311 and 111(3) of the BNS read with Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act.
“It is, therefore, considered appropriate to inform the director-general of police, Odisha and the principal secretary to Home department, Odisha to sufficiently train the police officers making arrest to comply the mandatory provisions of law, otherwise many hardened criminal will escape by taking this route, which is not in the interest of justice,” he further stated.
“Accordingly, this court requests the principal secretary, Home department, Odisha and director-general of police to bestow personal attention on this aspect to train the police officers and issue suitable instruction/circular to avoid this kind of situation for non-compliance of the aforesaid mandatory provisions,” he said, adding, “A copy of the order be immediately communicated to director-general of police and principal secretary to Home department, Odisha for compliance.”